THE EFFECTS OF SYMMETRICAL AND ASYMMETRICAL SOCIAL-INTERACTION ON CHILDRENS LOGICAL INFERENCES

We report an intervention experiment on the effects of social interact ion on 4- and 5-year-old children's performance in a simple logical, i nferential task. We found that children performing badly in a logical inferential task who then had the experience of cooperating with other s more advanced than themselves did better in this task in a post-rest given three days later and in a further test given after a three-week interval. We also found that children who had the experience of coope rating with others who had also performed badly (at the same level) in the pre-test did not get better at making logical inferences. We conc lude that social interaction between less and more advanced children e nhances the less advanced children's ability to make logical inference s, and we argue that this is probably due to the effects of discussion and of agreement, rather than to social conflict, during the interven tion period.